Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

The 200 Mile Hot Dog

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Scooter and motorcycle being moved outside of a garage
My friend Paul Ruby had to exchange his Honda CRF250L motorcycle for his BMW K1300 before we could begin our 200 mile ride for a hot dog at the Coney Island Lunch in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.

Moving Motorcycles

This post was supposed to be about hot dogs. But it seems to be more about the misery of summer riding.

There’s only room for one motorcycle in Paul’s garage. For long rides that don’t require any off-pavement maneuvers he prefers the luxurious comfort of his BMW K1300 motorcycle. Sure enough, when I arrived at his house to begin our ride to get a hot dog for lunch we had to first exchange machines. That meant paying a visit to a garage he rents on the other side of town.

Riding 200 miles to get a hot dog is exactly the sort of crazy behavior that we’ve both managed to normalize in our riding life. Any excuse to ride. Time and distance are irrelevant. We exist in a world where such things are concerns in the domains of youth and career. We’re just two guys with few cares in the world.

That’s before encountering the misery of summer riding.

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Vespa in Fog

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Vespa scooter on foggy roadThe Lure of Riding in Fog

I really can’t help myself.  When I wake and see fog outside all I can think of is feed the dogs and get the hell on the road. The pull of that magic atmosphere is strong despite the obvious risks.  Like riding in the snow, I sometimes hesitate posting because I don’t want to suggest you ride in the fog.  Or any other adverse weather condition.  While it’s something I’m prepared to deal with and accept the additional risk, it is not something for every rider in every location.

Still, I make the choice to ride my Vespa in fog on three consecutive mornings.  This day the fog was particularly dense in places with both visor and glasses fogging up making it hard for me to see and for others to see me.  Normally I ride with earplugs to cut down on noise but went without them so I could more readily hear approaching vehicles.  This is particularly important when you’re wandering around the road taking pictures.  I would consider it a monumental failure to be hit by a car while using a camera.Continue Reading

Morning Vespa Ride

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Vespa GTS scooter on a foggy morning Vespa rideHow to Return a Library Book on a Vespa Scooter

In general, I go to great lengths to find reasons to ride the scooter.  Most mornings begin with the dogs, walking slow laps through our woodland landscape and reflecting on the day a step at a time — a quiet meditation on life.  Contemplation is made more difficult by two excited canines with squeaky balls in their mouths who are anxious for the contemplation to end and the ball throwing to begin.

When I saw fog on the mountain yesterday morning, the fragile detente between man and dog was threatened.  If I go out of my way to find reasons to ride, fog trumps almost all riding situations.  It wasn’t long before I remembered I had a library book to return — a short five miles to town.

The direct route to the library is a bore.  Besides, the fog was on the mountains so I quickly determined an alternate route was in order — the long way around so to speak. Just a slightly extended morning Vespa ride.Continue Reading

Vespa in Fog

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Vespa GTS scooter in fog along roadA Vespa in Fog is Good Medicine

Great medicine actually.

A fine foggy morning for a first Vespa ride of 2017.  After nearly a month or non-riding living it did the soul well to be moving through the world on two wheels.  And the body did not whine or complain for the duration of this short, gentle ride.  At 37F the cold isn’t a concern.  And more importantly my back didn’t utter a word of concern.

Didn’t go far in terms of miles but it was a big journey in terms of future capacity to spend time on the Vespa.  The plan is to inch my way back to more extended time on the road and allow time to build some riding “muscle” again.  There’s still a couple more months of potentially frigid and snowy riding that could interfere but hopefully some openings.

Haven’t put the winter tires on the scooter yet nor the Tucano Urbano mitts to keep the icy wind off my hands.  Lot’s to do but not feeling much pressure to do anything in a hurry.

 

Vespa in the Fog

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Vespa at a rural intersection on a foggy morningFoggy Morning

This photo was made on the way to work just a mile from home on a less than direct route.

There’s a ritual that blooms each morning with the return to consciousness. Eyes scan the room, hand reaches for the water glass and the dog stirs in anticipation of a new day. Simple moments gather momentum from bed to shower and on toward the back door; two dogs now prancing as if today will be the best day ever.

Ever.

During those moments I glance out the window, a sneak peak of the story that might unfold in the next minutes and hours. When I see fog, like the dogs, I prance. Edging toward the end of the 62nd year on earth I feel lucky that I can be pushed to prance. The crashing of waves on a rocky coast, a sudden rainbow after a storm, tall white clouds against a strong blue sky — each has the power to unleash a dancing sprite that still breathes inside. Riding a scooter has added years to that dancer’s life.

And my own.

The prospect of riding to work in the fog causes all to fade in anticipation of the grey shrouded world of mystery and imagination. An ordinary, pedestrian trip from home to office becomes an epic journey of struggle and revelation.

I love riding a Vespa in the fog.

Vespa and fog breaking over a mountainClearing Skies

Some of the most dramatic landscapes are revealed beneath a clearing sky.  Sometimes those moments are fleeting as the clouds break for an instant allowing the light to change.  And then it’s gone.  I’ve watched the weather move through the Nittany Valley for over 40 years and it still holds my attention.

Riding a Vespa in the fog provides more opportunity to see the landscape that I ever did in a car.

Vespa in the fog along a rural roadAlong a Murky Road

Absent a horizon I can imagine roads stretching across great distances, I feel my spine stretch and stiffen, girding myself for adventure if only on a miniature scale. Riding has switched on genes first programmed when prehistoric ancestors pursued mastodons and saber toothed tigers — business of life and death that few riding on the roads of America ever approaches. For a few minutes I am more, greater than my self. Riding provides a lavish physical and emotional connection to the world. Fog transforms it to a realm of magic.

Vespa in the fog on a rural gravel roadRiding in the Fog

Let no rider be lured by fog’s siren song onto the rocks. There is much to tend in the real world — concerns for visibility both by the rider of others and others of the rider. Fogged visors and slick roads add to the challenge.

And the risk.

I never tire of considering risk. I value my life and respect the threats to it but I do not dwell on unfortunate coincidence or disaster. I never ask, “What if this happens to me?”. I always ask, “What if I have to stop riding?”

It’s a dark world in which I can’t ride. I know it will happen someday.  Choosing to stop riding is as puzzling to me as people who surrender their dog or cat to the pound because they purchased a new carpet. Things change.

Riding is indelibly etched in my DNA and has waited for decades to surface. There are no cures or 12 step programs. Only the burden of desire carried each day that claws inside whining and snarling to ride.

Fog only stirs the beast.

What ignites your riding desire?